Kitten
by Satan'sPixie
Summary: Hermione Granger has a secret, one that some would kill for and that others would die to protect. When her secret comes to light, how will she react to the side that wants to protect her and her secret? And how will she react to who her soul mate is? TRHG
1. Chapter 1

_**Kitten**_

_Hey, so I got the idea for this fic while reading some HPTR fics where Harry was turned half-cat, but I'm more fond of writing HGTR fics so I thought of a way to incorporate some of the ideas I had using that pairing._

_Just to let you know, Neko is a Japanese word for cat and is also used in cosplay and various fiction genres to refer to a catgirl, a girl who often has feline attributes._

_Anything you recognise is not mine._

_**TRHG**_

_**Chapter 1**_

Hermione Granger was nothing if not special, not only was she uncommonly pretty but she was also highly intelligent and a witch. But what made her most special was also her biggest secret. In her second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened by the Heir of Slytherin and had let loose a Basilisk which was Petrifying all Muggleborn students (of whom Hermione was one). In order to try and find out who the Heir of Slytherin was, Hermione and her two best friends (Harry and Ron) had brewed a Polyjuice Potion to get into the Slytherin Common Room. Unfortunately for Hermione, when it was time to add the hair of the person you wanted to change into, she accidentally added cat hair, turning her into a cat in human shape. When Harry and Ron realised, they got her up to the Hospital Wing as fast as possible with her head covered by a cloak to hide her.

Madam Pomfrey managed to change her back to her human self…almost. They were unable to get rid of some feline features that Hermione had developed; namely: a tail, cat ears, whiskers, claws, a cat's tongue, cat teeth and cat eyes. Not even Dumbledore could help; he explained that she had probably been in cat form for too long and so was stuck like that. But when he thought that she was asleep he told Madam Pomfrey that she might have some Neko blood in her.

Once Professor Flitwick had helped her with a Glamour to hide her new features, Hermione rushed to the library to research Neko's. What she found was very helpful even though there weren't a lot of books on the subject. Apparently, a Neko was a species of magical being that originated in Japan; they were humanoid in form but had certain feline elements. They always had cat ears and a cat tail but sometimes they had extra features too. They were considered rare because truly Dark Wizards tended to kill them for their life force which could be used to extend a human life. In fact, there were none recorded in the UK at that moment and hadn't been for well over 250 years.

Dumbledore's attempt to keep her in the dark about her species made her suspicious of his motives; she couldn't think of a legitimate reason for him to try and hide her species from her. For the next few years, she was very careful around Dumbledore, not to the extent that he'd notice, but still vigilant enough that she'd stand a chance of escaping if he tried something.

In her third year, she told Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, the Weasley twins and Professor Lupin what she was and let them see her without the Glamour spell. The girls gushed over how pretty she looked while the Weasley twins thought she looked 'wicked', Neville smiled happily at her and Harry asked to stroke her ears softly. Professor Lupin looked like everything made sense. Apparently she smelled exactly like a cat to him which had been confusing him from the moment he met her. The only person she hung out with that she didn't tell about her differences was Ron, she knew from experience that Ron got jealous about anything that he felt made people better than him, and Hermione's species made her very special.

_**TRHG**_

Currently, Hermione was sat with her friends in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, on the way to Hogwarts for what would be Harry, Hermione and Neville's seventh and final year (Fred and George, the Weasley twins, had dropped out two years previous to open their own joke shop); Ginny and Luna were also in their final year, during the summer they'd studied harder than before and passed the exams to advance a year (although it had been with Hermione's help). By contrast, Ron was being held back a year due to his poor results on the previous year's exams. He'd gotten a 'T' in almost all his exams except Potions where he hadn't even made that grade resulting in Snape refusing to teach him. Harry himself was lucky to carry it on, he'd only gotten an 'E' but, as he was only two marks off an 'O', Snape agreed that he could continue if Hermione tutored him to get his marks up.

"Mione?" Ginny asked, drawing the Neko's attention.

"Yes Ginny?" Hermione said softly, looking at one of her female friends.

"Did you dye your hair? It looks so much darker than before the summer!" Ginny asked curiously. Hermione chuckled lightly, while it was true that most people's hair darkens slightly over the course of their life, hers did so at an alarmingly fast rate. Over the years, her light brown hair had darkened until it reached the warm shade of ebony that it currently was, a shade which matched Harry's perfectly.

"No, it just did it naturally." She replied with a smile. Her hair now matched the fur on her tail and ears, like most Neko's, and made her skin seem paler than it actually was. Overall, she seemed more mysterious than she had ever seemed before, she had to admit that it _**was**_ a good look for her. It actually made her and Harry look a bit like non-identical twins (at least when she was wearing her Glamour), something else that had Ron mad at her for. He couldn't stand the idea that someone else was closer to Harry than him.

The rest of the train journey was spent just talking about the upcoming year, although Hermione _**did**_ have to give Ron a detention when he came to find them for making a snide remark about how Harry was Head Boy. Perhaps the biggest problem Ron had was that his friends were doing really well while he was struggling with his schoolwork an couldn't seem to keep his personal life in any semblance of order.

_**TRHG**_

Once the Sorting and Welcoming feast was over, Luna showed the new First Year Ravenclaws to the Ravenclaw Common Room and gave them the password before going to the Heads Dorm to meet the others. Ginny and Neville were already there, after doing the same as Luna for the Gryffindor First Years. As usual, their little group spent their first evening back at Hogwarts talking about their hopes and plans for that year.

"I want to improve in Potions." Neville said resolutely. He'd carried it on because he did really well in his OWL's when Snape wasn't hanging over his shoulder but the previous year he hadn't done too well inn class work.

"I'm going to apologise to Snape for looking in his Pensive in 5th year." Harry smiled, he knew that he'd been in the wrong and wanted to try and make things right.

"I'm going to become friends with people I've never met before." Luna smiled dreamily.

"I'm going to go after my crush!" Ginny grinned, she'd told Hermione the previous year about her massive crush on Draco Malfoy and Hermione had encouraged her to go after him.

"I want to find my Soul Mate…" Hermione smiled wistfully; as she grew closer to her eighteenth birthday, the urge to find a mate grew, something that happened with all Neko's. A Neko only has one true mate but they can be mated to anyone. However, they will only be truly happy with their true mate.

"I'm sure you will Mione, we'll even help. Right guys?" Ginny replied, looking around at the others. They all agreed happily.

"At least we can be sure it's not Ron!" Harry joked, causing them all to laugh soundly.

Later that night, when Hermione was lying in bed, trying to get to sleep, she had a sense that all their hopes for the year would come true.

"They have to…" She whispered to herself as she drifted off.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Kitten**_

_So this is the second chapter of Kitten, I know that some of my fics tend to be a little bit predictable but hopefully there'll be a few surprises for you in here!_

_For adding this story to Story Alert, thanks to: Violet-eyed-Tiger4,Daughter of Chaos 98, bluekat5, Kambrin Potter, JasmineRB, tammy henson, LadyBookworm80, loves2readalways, simca Freya, Cooky Crumbla, liz3392, brebee2010, Minyonette, Sarah-Anne-Krane, Hedvig Alfdis, cosmoGirl666, luvslinkpk88 and cherry2moon, _

_For adding this story to their Favourite Story list, thanks to: MrsDSalvatore, tammy henson, tacker23, Brittany009, Cooky Crumbla, liz3392, Grolet, nikkistaria, laintmr, amberfaithstinson, Danna Farfalle, orangebluethought, Eternallytwisted and As mad as one can get_

_For Reviewing, thanks to: tammy henson, sum, Reinecerise and cosmoGirl666, _

_For adding me to their Favourite Author list, thanks to Cooky Crumbla, MelloPocky and Missy789 _

_For adding me to Author Alert, thanks to: Cooky Crumbla, _

_Also, thanks to Daughter of Chaos, you didn't review as such but you sort of did in that pm._

_Anything you recognise is not mine._

_**TRHG**_

_**Chapter 2**_

Hermione woke up early the next morning to have extra time to get ready. In previous years she'd dressed in a fairly conservative manner, but this year, she, Ginny and Luna were going to dress a bit more flirty than before seeing as it was their final year. Hermione's first act upon getting out of bed was to brush her teeth and remove her pyjamas, next she pulled on her underwear before grabbing her uniform. Her red plaid skirt was short, showing a lot of her long legs which were encased in black fishnet stockings with black lace at the top. She was wearing a white shirt with three-quarter length sleeves that she buttoned up to just above her breasts. She then tied her Gryffindor tie loosely so that it was just visible. Over the top she put a black blazer with the Gryffindor emblem stitched on the left hand side and three-quarter length sleeves like the shirt. On her feet were a pair of black stiletto Mary Jane shoes, highly polished so that they shone. Around her neck was a Gryffindor pendant made of gold and she wore a black leather bracelet around her left wrist with a golden lion on it. Her look was finished by black eyeliner around her eyes, black mascara on her eyelashes and a slick of bright red lipstick.

Meanwhile, Ginny and Luna were also getting ready in their own dorms. Ginny's uniform was more conservative than Hermione's but still less so than her dorm-mates. First she put a dark grey pleated school skirt from her second year so that it reached about two inches above her knees with a fitted white shirt and her Gryffindor tie. Over the top she wore a black cardigan with the Gryffindor crest sewn into the left. Like Hermione she wore a pair of black fishnet stockings with black lace at the top and she wore a pair of black lace-up high heeled boots. Around her neck was a gold lion necklace and in her ears she wore a pair of silver sword earrings. Her eyes were ringed in red eyeliner and she wore black mascara on her eyelashes. A slick of the same red lipstick as Hermione completed her look. Luna was wearing a light grey layered skirt with a blue pinstriped shirt that had the Ravenclaw crest sewn into it. Added to that was her Ravenclaw tie, tied around loosely around her open collar, and the same stockings as Ginny and Hermione along with a pair of dark blue lace up military style boots. For her jewellery, she wore her cork necklace, her radish earrings, her beetle ring and multicoloured bracelet with various charms added to it. Her eyes were outlined in a silvery blue eyeliner with black mascara on the lashes and some light pink lipstick on her lips. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail next to her left ear and she had her Spectospecs on top of her head.

The girls, along with Harry and Neville, met outside the Head's dorms and headed down to breakfast, the girl's uniforms causing a stir among the student body. As they all sat at the Gryffindor table to eat breakfast, Ron was staring at Hermione with obvious lust in his eyes and various other males around the school were too. While they were eating, they were given their schedules, they were all in most of the same lessons, with only a few differences.

_**TRHG**_

Ginny's Schedule:

_**Monday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Charms

**Lesson 3: **Charms

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Potions

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Dinner**

_**Tuesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 2: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 3: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lesson 5: **Ancient Runes

**Lesson 6: **Ancient Runes

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson: **Double Astronomy

_**Wednesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Charms

**Dinner**

_**Thursday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Transfiguration

**Extra Lesson:** Astronomy

**Dinner**

_**Friday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Ancient Runes

**Lesson 3: **Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

_**TRHG**_

Luna's Schedule

_**Monday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Charms

**Lesson 3: **Charms

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Potions

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Dinner**

_**Tuesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 2: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 3: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Extra Lesson: **Double Astronomy

**Dinner**

_**Wednesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Charms

**Dinner**

_**Thursday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Transfiguration

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson:** Astronomy

_**Friday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

_**TRHG**_

Neville's Schedule

_**Monday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Charms

**Lesson 3: **Charms

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Potions

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Dinner**

_**Tuesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 2: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 3: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lesson 5: **Advanced Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson: **Double Astronomy

_**Wednesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Charms

**Dinner**

_**Thursday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 3: **Advanced Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Advanced Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Transfiguration

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson:** Astronomy

_**Friday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

_**TRHG**_

Harry's Schedule

_**Monday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Charms

**Lesson 3: **Charms

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Potions

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Dinner**

_**Tuesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 2: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 3: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson: **Double Astronomy

_**Wednesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **History of Magic

**Lesson 3: **History of Magic

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Charms

**Dinner**

_**Thursday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 3: **Free

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **History of Magic

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Transfiguration

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson:** Astronomy

_**Friday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Free

**Lesson 3: **Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

_**TRHG**_

Hermione's Schedule

_**Monday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **Charms

**Lesson 3: **Charms

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Potions

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Dinner**

_**Tuesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 2: **Transfiguration

**Lesson 3: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Defence Against the Dark Arts

**Lesson 5: **Ancient Runes

**Lesson 6: **Ancient Runes

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson: **Double Astronomy

_**Wednesday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Free

**Lesson 2: **History of Magic

**Lesson 3: **History of Magic

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Herbology

**Lesson 5: **Herbology

**Lesson 6: **Charms

**Dinner**

_**Thursday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 3: **Advanced Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **History of Magic

**Lesson 5: **Potions

**Lesson 6: **Transfiguration

**Dinner**

**Extra Lesson:** Astronomy

_**Friday:**_

**Breakfast**

**Lesson 1: **Care of Magical Creatures

**Lesson 2: **Ancient Runes

**Lesson 3: **Herbology

**Lunch**

**Lesson 4: **Free

**Lesson 5: **Free

**Lesson 6: **Free

**Dinner**

_**TRHG**_

Hermione had more lessons than the others but that didn't really surprise them, knowing just how much she loved to learn. From their seats about ten people down from him, they could hear Ron boasting about how many free periods he had. The previous year he'd taken Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Defence Against the Dark Arts but he'd failed Transfiguration and Herbology almost as badly as Potions and had decided to drop them, especially as he'd barely passed everything else except Divination. This meant that this year he only had four lessons and gave him a rather large amount of free periods. Dumbledore had also given him the Quiddich Captain position (rumours were that he had tried to give Ron the Head Boy position too but the other staff members protested and the School Board forced him to give it to Harry).

The day passed pretty smoothly; as it was a Wednesday (they'd arrived on the Tuesday), Hermione and Harry had had History of Magic after their free period that morning while the others had had three.

"It was so interesting guys, Professor Bins said that we were going to study the Discoveries in the Muggle world that are used and have enriched the Wizarding World, starting with the Railway. Did you know that in 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was the first publicly subscribed railway in the world, was opened? Dumbledore has agreed to let us go on a field trip to Darlington Railway Museum where Locomotion No.1 is on display as the Stockton and Darlington Railway played a major part in the development of the railways!" Hermione grinned excitedly at lunch, causing all her friends to chuckle.

"It _**was**_ interesting, but I'm more interested in the section on Medicine because we'll be going to Thackray Museum in Leeds to learn about Medicine through Time. The section on the History of Newspapers sounds interesting too, especially as one of the Ghost stories about Darlington Railway Museum was written down in a book by William T. Stead who was at one point the Editor of the Northern Echo which is based in Darlington. Apparently he died on the 'Titanic' in 1912." Harry grinned at his friends.

"Wow, I wish _**I'd**_ taken History now!" Ginny said.

After lunch, the group made their way down to the Greenhouses for Herbology. Professor Sprout was pleased to see the group, especially Neville as he was her best student. The lesson and the rest of the day passed quicker than they expected with the only trouble coming from Ron. He seemed to have decided that Hermione should go out with him, even though she stated that he wasn't her type. Part of it might have been the very short skirts but whatever it was, he spent the entire day harassing her when he saw her. Eventually it took Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson hexing him to get rid of him. Pansy seemed to have the same idea about uniform as Hermione and her friends. They Slytherin had decided to wear a short grey plaid skirt, a white shirt with her Slytherin tie, a black waistcoat, the same black fishnet stockings and a pair of black shoes with silver snakes around the heels. In her ears she wore a pair of diamond snake studs, a silver snake bracelet on her left wrist, a diamond snake necklace and a silver snake ring with an emerald on the middle finger of her right hand. Her hair was loose but held off her face with a green double headband and she had green eye shadow, silver eyeliner and black mascara on her eyes with bright red lipstick and emerald green nail varnish. She _**did**_ look pretty but the sneer on her face slightly spoiled that effect.

_**TRHG**_

"I wish Ron would leave me alone! I don't know what would have happened if Malfoy and Parkinson weren't around!" Hermione sighed, exasperated while they were all sat in the Heads' common room.

"I know what you mean! I had a free at the same time as him earlier and he wouldn't stop nagging me about how I should flunk my lessons because my being pushed forward a year and his being held back made him look bad!" Ginny growled, looking irritated with her brother.

"He's probably jealous of all of us." Luna said comfortingly.

"True, but it'll get worse before it gets better." Harry sighed, looking concerned.

_**TRHG**_

Ronald Weasley was fuming, Dumbledore had told him that Hermione would be glad to have his attentions but instead she ignored them and refused him. If only he'd been able to get the Head Boy position like he should of, he could have fucked random girl in a prominent place where she would see them to make her jealous. He could still try that but he ran the risk of someone else catching him instead now. Still, Dumbledore could get the punishment lessened, the Golden Trio needed to stand together against Voldemort, in order for their side to win the war. Harry and Hermione knew that, deep down.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Kitten**_

_For adding this story to Story Alert, thank you to: Teeny-Turtle, cullen's pet, l'amour perdu, Torry-Riddle, EmeraldYoukai, Kawaii girl 4 life, Seiya-Serena-fan18, Ethy-Riddle, MultiNinja2012, Gabby0515, Natsori forevaX, XxlveryaxX, loukrita, vlalelit-the and sleepylittleme_

_For Reviewing, thank you to: Anniiieeeee, Daughter of Chaos 98, cosmoGirl666, l'amour perdu, Seiya-Serena-fan18 and Gabby0515 _

_For adding this story to their Favourite Story list, thank you to: Just Another Crazy Radical, kae9403, Torry-Riddle, Goth Princess Kyra, Italian Boy Lover, Gabby0515, Natsori forevaX, roroloesvamps and dracosgirl007, _

_For adding me to their Favourite Author list, thanks to: Gabby0515 and , _

_For adding me to Author Alert, thanks to: ,_

_I __**have**__ used some Irish Gaelic in this and I will translate it but as I don't actually speak it I can't vouch for how accurate it is._

_**Bualadh craicinn cac capaill bastún! **__Fucking horse shit bastard!_

_**Oíche mhaith Puisín. **__Good night Kitten._

_Anything you recognise is not mine_

_**TRHG**_

_**Chapter 3**_

By the time the first Hogsemeade weekend rolled around, Hermione and her friends were all sick of Ron. He'd spent all his free time up until then stalking Hermione, not only trying to get her to be his girlfriend (or at the very least, to sleep with him) but also trying to find out her secret, having realised that she'd kept something from him for years. Luckily for the group of friends, they had an unsuspected ally in Professor Snape. When Harry had apologised for looking into his pensieve, he'd been shocked but had accepted the apology immediately. The fact that Neville's potions grade had improved also helped to warm the normally dour man to the group. Last time Ron had made an arse of himself, Professor Snape had been the one to catch him and he'd immediately given Ronald a detention on the day of the first Hogsmeade visit, something that the group of friends were glad for as it meant that he wouldn't be following them around so they could actually have fun.

Hermione stood waiting for her friends in the entrance hall, carefully ignoring the attention and stares from the idiotic males of the school. Ever since she'd started to wear the more revealing uniform, guys had been crowding round her and her friends, trying to score a date with at least one of the girls and her casual outfits did nothing to alleviate the situation. As she'd grown older, she found that she had a certain fondness for mini skirts as they showed off her long and toned legs perfectly. Luckily for the young Neko, her friends also started to wear mini skirts or shorts which showed off their legs.

On this particular day, Hermione had chosen to wear a royal blue miniskirt with a black stripe near the top and two pockets on the stripe. With that she'd chosen to wear a white tank top, a royal blue cardigan, a pair of black fishnet stockings and a pair of black lace high heels. Holding her dark curls off her face was a black crystal-embellished hair band. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a tree that showed all four seasons and on her left wrist she had a black leather embellished strand bracelet while on her right was a grey-blue leather wrap bracelet. Her eyes were outlined with her usual black eyeliner and she had black mascara on her eyelashes, making them longer and thicker. A slick of bright red lipstick completed her facial makeup and her nails were painted a bright royal blue. She was carrying a royal blue butterfly tote bag and she was wearing a pair of black sunglasses. Harry and Neville were the first ones to meet up with her, both boys wearing a pair of blue jeans, black Converse trainers and a t-shirt, Harry in green, Neville in brown.

Luna was the next one to arrive, dressed in her normal dotty style. She was wearing a lemon coloured mini skirt, a pair of multicoloured striped .knee high socks, a light dove grey pair of army-style boots and an aqua t-shirt with the words 'If you can read this pick me up and put me back on the barstool Thanks!' written upside down. She also had a bright pink snood around her neck, a set of silver bangles on her right wrist, a set of three lavender silicone bracelets and several chunky brightly coloured bracelets on her left and a pair of earrings that looked like dream catchers in her ears. Her lipstick was a light pink with a slight glitter to it; her eyes had multicoloured eye shadow around them and black mascara on the lashes. At her side was a blue, green and purple striped messenger bag which presumable contained her wand, purse and her Spectospecs which she never went anywhere without.

Ginny was the last one to turn up, mainly because she had lost some of her bracelets. She was wearing a short pair of distressed denim shorts, a light coloured tank top with 'Heart Breaker' written on it, a dark brown cowboy hat and a dark brown pair of high-heeled shearling boots that Hermione had insisted she borrowed. Around her neck was a gold heart locket and she wore a pair of large gold hoops in her ears. She wore numerous gold and wooden bangles on both her wrists, making light tinkling noises whenever the gold moved together. On her eyelashes was black mascara, she had black eyeliner surrounding her eyes and a slick of deep red lipstick. She had a small mid brown handbag at her side containing her wand.

"Sorry I'm late guys! I couldn't find some of my bangles!" She gasped as she reached them.

"Gin, don't worry about it. Let's go down now, we've got the whole day!" Hermione smiled.

The walk down the small Wizarding village was pleasant, the air and sunshine was warm, still with a hint of summer about them. All in all, it made for a very pleasant day and they were loath to go into the Three Broomsticks for their lunch but as none of them had thought to bring a picnic, it was the only place they could eat. About halfway through their meal, they heard a loud commotion from outside and people started screaming. Grabbing their things (although Harry left enough Galleons to cover their food on the table) they rushed outside. Death Eaters were raiding the small village, destroying buildings and cursing ordinary people, although curiously they weren't using anything lethal or too damaging. Order members had apparated in and were fighting the Death Eaters using curses that could kill or seriously maim which sometimes missed and hit civilians instead, a complete contrast to the Dark side. Acting on instinct, Hermione and the others began firing _Protego_s over the ordinary people and stinging hexes on anyone who was fighting that was getting too close to them.

"Granger, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom and Lovegood! What do you think you're doing? You should be helping us annihilate the Death Eaters, not protecting those who don't bother to protect themselves!" Dumbledore snarled at them as he threw a killing curse at one of the Death Eaters, it missed and hit a young witch, she'd been a Hufflepuff the previous year and graduated that summer. None of the teens had a chance to reply because Dumbledore rushed off to fight, leaving them with just his parting words. It was not long after that, that they were all hit by several stunners each, causing the world to go dark.

_**TRHG**_

When they came to, they were on their knees on a cold stone floor with their hands tied behind their backs. Hermione was the first one to look up and she hissed slightly under her breath at the sight of more Death Eaters than she had ever seen, surrounding them. The walls of the large room were made of the same cold stone as the floor and there were Death Eaters pressed up against them. Sat on a large stone throne on a dais in front of them was a young man who looked like he was about 21/22, with dark brown hair and dark burgundy eyes. With a shock, Hermione realised that he was Voldemort, only he looked like an older version of Tom Riddle. He was watching them with a smirk on his face which grew wider when he saw the shock in their expressions.

"Well, what have we here then?" He asked, his voice warm and smooth with a slight hint of an Irish accent, as he tapped a long and pale finger on the arm of his throne. One of the Death Eaters stepped forward.

"We caught them during the raid on Hogsmeade, My Lord. We thought that you would appreciate the opportunity to…enact… some of your plans for them." He replied, bowing to Voldemort.

"Ah, perfect. Why don't we start with little Miss Granger." Voldemort smirked smugly. The Death Eater pulled Hermione up after removing the bindings on her hands and attempting to drag her towards the throne. This had an instant reaction on the witch, she hissed loudly and bit and scratched him, drawing blood using both her teeth and claws. It took two of them to stop her and Voldemort was eyeing her with interest.

"Well, it seems like little Miss Granger is hiding something. Let's remove that Glamour and find out what it is, shall we?" He said, flicking his wand at her.

Before she could even protest, Hermione felt her Glamour melting, revealing her feline features. No one said anything for a long time but eventually Voldemort found his voice.

"Let her go." He said suddenly. The Death Eaters holding Hermione gaped at him and one of them asked why.

"Because, you moron, she's a Neko. On that note, release her friends too." He growled. The Death Eaters hurried to fulfil his wishes. When they were free, Hermione rushed over to her friends and stood in front of them. She narrowed her eyes and hissed at Voldemort, almost daring him to try and harm them.

"I mean neither you nor your friends no harm." He said, holding his hand up to show that he wasn't holding his wand.

"I'll believe that when I see it! What do you want with us?" She hissed, her fangs on display and her ears back.

"First, why don't you tell me what you know of Dumbledore's plans. I probably already know them but it would be nice to know just how much he confides in people so at the centre of his plans." Voldemort said, his voice light and pleasant but Hermione was still wary, going completely against her instincts which said to trust him. Most of them had no real idea of what Dumbledore had planned but Neville looked worried.

"I think I know something he's planning on. I overheard him talking to Ron about how he knows a true route to immortality and that he was going to use Hermione and her powers to defeat you." He said, chewing his lip slightly. The effect on Voldemort was instantaneous.

"Bualadh craicinn cac capaill bastún!" He snarled, standing and pacing.

"What's got into him?" Ginny asked the others who shrugged. This drew Voldemort's attention back to them.

"What has 'got into' me as you so eloquently put it Miss Weasley, is that I know the full extent of Dumbledore's plans. It is possible to steal the powers and the very life from a Neko using an old and obscure ritual, so old that the actual process is thought to have been lost to time while the way to stop such a ritual can still be found. Only someone truly evil would even think of harming a Neko in such a way as, in most Wizarding cultures, Nekos are considered lucky and are often very powerful. It is my belief that Dumbledore was planning to use the lost ritual on Miss Granger, although I do not know how he knows it." He explained before he glanced around at the gathered Death Eaters.

"Leave, now! Snape, the LeStranges and the Malfoys may stay." He snapped, causing every Death Eater except the ones he had mentioned to leave suddenly.

"My Lord, why don't we go somewhere other than this Meeting Room, it might reassure them." Narcissa asked, looking concernedly at the teens.

"Alright, but how many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Tom' Narcissa?" He sighed in reply.

"Sorry, Tom, I always forget; especially after a meeting. Now, lets get these poor things sat down with some tea and cakes. Actually, you should probably have some as well. You're still too skinny Tom, you and Severus both." Narcissa smiled, bustling off to get tea set up for everyone. Tom, as he'd stated for Narcissa to call him, looked rueful but, once everyone was sat down, he accepted a cup of tea and a large slice of Black Forest Gateaux with far more grace than Snape who also had Narcissa trying to feed him up.

"What I want to know is how do you know so much about Nekos? I mean, I am one and I only knew half of what you said." Hermione asked, before taking a large bite of her own slice of Gateaux and closing her eyes as she savoured the flavour. When she opened her eyes, she saw that everyone was looking at her with amusement.

"What? This Gateaux is to die for!" She asked, taking another large bite.

"Indeed, Narcissa always was good at baking. As for how I know so much about your species, when I was at school, they were mentioned briefly in DADA in my 6th year as beings that you shouldn't annoy. I was intrigued so I did some research in the library; at the time there were quite a lot of books about Nekos but I'd imagine now that Dumbledore has removed them." Tom replied absently finishing his slice of Gateaux. Narcissa immediately gave him a slice of what looked like Treacle Tart and gave everyone else a slice too.

"You might be right, in my second year, after I'd found out what I was, I went searching through the library but I couldn't find any books specifically on Nekos, and only a couple where they were briefly mentioned." Hermione nodded.

"He would have removed them. The ones I found were quite detailed and even described a legend about the first Nekos." Tom replied.

"Really? Could you tell us it?" Ginny asked excitedly before she'd even really thought of it.

"A story? Can I listen too Uncle Tom?" A light voice asked from the doorway. Stood there was a young girl of about six or seven, with long blonde curls and the Malfoy silver eyes. She was dressed in a pink skirt that reached her knees and a white short sleeved blouse with a pair of white satin ballet flats with flowers embroidered on them. Around her neck was a silver and diamond necklace in the shape of a star and she had silver and diamond studs in her ears. On her right wrist was a bracelet made of black and pink beads with a white gold band containing pink sapphires while she had a bracelet made of pink opals and diamonds on her left. She was a very pretty little girl and a child that anyone would have been proud to call their own.

"Linnaea, what are you doing here?" Lucius asked sternly.

"But daddy, I was bored! I finished the books I brought with me so I decided to look for you, Mummy and Dray." The little girl said with the most adorable pout.

"Linnaea darling, there's a reason we asked you not to wander round on your own. But I suppose there's no harm done this time." Narcissa sighed, hugging her daughter to her.

"If your parents are happy for you to stay, then I certainly don't mind you hearing the story." Tom smiled fondly at Linnaea. This made Harry realise that Dumbledore didn't, in fact, know everything. Dumbledore had stated that Tom Riddle didn't know how to love, that he was a monster who had never loved anyone, but Harry saw that Tom was surrounded by the love of his own friends. All this Harry saw reflected in the love and fondness that Tom had for that little girl, a girl who was, in everything except blood, his niece.

Linnaea chose to sit next to Hermione, who let her stroke and play with her tail, almost on instinct doing what cats do to keep kittens entertained. Lucius looked like he wanted to tell Linnaea to stop bothering Hermione but when he saw how happy his daughter and the Neko were, he decided to keep quiet.

"The story is supposed to have happened several millennia ago, somewhere in Japan. A Japanese witch was fleeing from a Dark Lord who was intent on stealing her gift of longevity, her gift of being able to live for far longer than the average human. She transformed into her Animagus form, a small black cat, and escaped but not before going through a ward designed to stop Animagus transformations. She was trapped as a cat for a few years before her brother managed to find her and, by then, she thought and acted like a real cat. You see, over time, when a person changes into their Animagus form their thought processes begin to change to those of the animal they've taken the form of. The witch in question had so thoroughly believed that she was a cat, that she had gone through heat and become pregnant with kittens.

"When her brother realised after he'd restored her to her own form and mind, he'd tried to get her to abort the kittens but she was stubborn, possibly more stubborn than Harry." Everyone laughed at the slight joke, even Harry. "But when the kittens were born, they weren't fully feline. They were human in shape, with feline ears, tails, claws, teeth, eyes and whiskers. Those 'kittens' were the first Nekos and every Neko is descended from them, just as every Neko has that witch's gift of a long life. Or at least, that's the story." Tom explained. Everyone was slightly stunned by the story, or at least, the adults were, Linnaea had enjoyed the story immensely and was now looking at Hermione closely.

"You have black whiskers." She said simply with a little giggle. Hermione couldn't help the smile spreading across her face. Quickly she shifted into her cat form, a small black cat with black whiskers, a black nose and black pads. With a soft meow, she climbed up on Linnaea's lap and sat there while the little girl stroked her head softly.

_**TRHG**_

It was later, after they had each been given a spacious set of rooms to stay in, that Hermione found out where they were, more or less. From her window, she could see Dublin in the distance which she remembered from a trip to the Irish capital with her parents.

"We're in Ireland?" She muttered to herself.

"At Slytherin Manor." A voice said behind her. She whirled around with a hiss on her lips to see Tom, stood behind her.

"I apologise for startling you but I felt the need to explain some things to you that I've already explained to your friends." He said, moving towards the chairs in front of the fire, making sure to not pose a threat. Hermione sat opposite him, eyeing him warily, she wasn't sure what to make of this polished, witty and urbane Dark Lord.

"You need to understand that I'm not as insane as Dumbledore has made me out, I never have been. He made me out to be an insane murderer to try and stop certain people seeking me out and joining my cause." Tom started.

"What? Your cause to eradicate Muggleborns and Muggles?" She asked snarkily.

"Actually, my cause to take greater precautions to ensure that Muggles never find out about our world, my cause to make sure that no magical child is left with abusive Muggles and to ensure that Muggle parents of Witches and Wizards can not inadvertently expose our world. For years, my aims have been to protect our World and its people. Had I actually reached the Potters' home before Dumbledore, Harry would have grown up with parents and not with those poor excuses for human beings that Dumbledore left him with." Tom replied, slight anger flashing in his eyes.

"What? Dumbledore reached the Potters' before you? But then how…?" She trailed off not really wanting to know t answer to that.

"He had heard a rumour that Lily Potter was adopted, that she was in actual fact part Neko. She wasn't but he'd already killed James and couldn't leave Lily alive to tell the world of what he'd done. By the time I arrived, both adults were dead and Harry had been taken to the Dursleys, he might have still had a good life had I actually arrived moments after Dumbledore left and before Hagrid arrived. He probably would have grown up as Severus' son, I know how much he loved Harry's mother." He replied, looking slightly sad.

"And you didn't look down on her because she was a Muggleborn?" She asked bluntly. He looked slightly surprised by her question but understood what she was really asking.

"Blood never had anything to do with it. What made her beneath him was the fact that she spurned his love because he didn't fit in with her 'perfect' family. If she didn't love, or only thought of him as a friend, that would have been fine. But she refused him because she wanted to be the 'perfect' pureblood's wife." Tom growled, it was clear that he cared about his friends. She paused, not entirely sure what to say to that.

"Professor Snape would have been a good father to Harry. You know, Harry's not of age yet…" She smiled finally, letting him guess what she meant.

"It might not be too late." He said, looking a little stunned.

"No genuine action is too late, the timing just determines what action is taken." She said softly, placing one of her hands on his closest hand to her. She was surprised by how soft his hands were and by a light tingling that started to move across her skin the moment she laid her hand on his.

He seemed slightly surprised too, but he covered it well, carrying on as if she hadn't placed her hand over his.

"I'm hoping, that now that you and your friends are out of Dumbledore's clutches and safe, that he'll panic and make a mistake, leading to his downfall. He must have been counting a lot on his plans for you, so your loss will hit him hard, almost as hard as the loss of Harry." He continued absently, moving his hand so that it was palm-to-palm with hers, almost as if he hadn't really thought about it.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked cautiously.

"Why do you think there's been an incident pretty much every year just before Harry went back to the Dursleys? I was trying to help him but Dumbledore had him convinced that I was trying to kill him. That's never been the case, I've never harmed or killed a child and I never want to. Dumbledore was the one to give Harry that scar and he was the one to force me to have to exist in spirit form for over a decade.

"Then there's you, you're more powerful than most purebloods and Dumbledore would do practically anything to have you on his side. I'm not trying to force you to join my side, I'm just asking that you don't join Dumbledore's and allow me to protect you. The rest of your friends are similarly powerful in their own ways. You're all simply free from his influence and can make your own decisions. All your friends except Harry have decided to remain Neutral and I'm happy to accept that, it's their choice after all. And I will not coerce you into anything either." He explained, sighing softly.

"Thank you, not just for giving me the choice but also for your honesty." She smiled at him, her sweet expression giving him odd sensations in the pit of his stomach.

"I'd best leave you to your rest, it's late and being hit by as many stunners as you and your friends were can cause severe fatigue." He said after a few moments, pulling his hand out from under hers and standing.

"Goodnight Tom." She said softly, using his first name for the first time since they'd met.

"Sleep well Kitten." He smiled back turning to head out of the room.

"By the way, Tom." She said, causing him to turn and look at her.

"Yes Kitten?" He asked, looking curious.

"For the record, the you I've gotten to know today, the real you, I like him." She smiled. Slowly a smile spread over his features.

"Oíche mhaith Puisín." He said softly as he left her to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Kitten**_

_For adding this story to their Favourite Story list, thank you to: Aileen Dickinson, Susanj01, l'amour perdu, blondewolf1, tiarna13, JulesCapulet, nosetip, JadeWolf96, Country-girl13, growlatme, KaelynMarieSalvatore, I REALLY HATE EIRI YUKI, Elcarim-Soberian-1222, werevampluvr, , Twiggy2400, Danish Fantasy Girl and babybear1994_

_For Reviewing, thank you to: brandi moore, l'amour perdu, cosmorGirl666, Just sayin, happygoluckyfull, , aphrodite4986 and Twiggy2400 _

_For adding this story to Story Alert, thank you to: feral93, tiarna13, sweets1111, Mr. and Mrs. Cuddles, Em Doe, SALIGIA-the seven deadly sins, happygoluckyfull, hbrooks, , aphrodite4986, Asarin159, Azera-v, Elcarim-Soberian-1222, werevampluvr, , Twiggy2400, babybear1994, paisleymll and Snapesbloodredneko _

_For adding me to Author Alert, thanks to: Silva Lily, _

_For adding me to their Favourite Author list, thanks to: Silva Lily, _

_And Just saying, I know Tom was kinda OOC but that's the point, he was saying that everything they thought they knew was a lie made up by Dumbledore. I'm sorry that you didn't like the chapter but I'm afraid that it will stay the same as it kind of sets the tone for how Tom will act towards Hermione. I do appreciate the comment though __J._

_If you're interested in the full outfits that the characters are wearing, they're on my Polyvore account in the 'Kitten' collection, my username is the same._

_Just a quick note about cats, a 'queen' is a female cat while a 'tom' is a male cat. Most people know the second but not the first so I felt I should mention it._

_Also, a shout out to Sam, this might not be as steamy as 'Two Muses' but hey, it's not at that point yet ;P_

_I know it's a fairly short chapter but there's not much I can add to it._

_Anything you recognise is not mine._

_**TRHG**_

_**Chapter 4**_

The next morning, it took Hermione a few moments to realise where she was but when she did remember, she bolted up out if bed in surprise. After a few moments she calmed down but the idea that they were in Slytherin Manor, under the direct care of Lord Voldemort himself, was still somewhat alien to her. A knock at the door made her look up.

"Yes?" She called out, grateful for the white nightgown that had been left out for her to use the night before. Much to her surprise, Narcissa Malfoy walked in carrying a garment bag and a shrunk version of Hermione's school trunk.

"I'm sorry if I woke you dear, but breakfast is in half an hour, after which I'm going to take you, Ginny and Luna shopping. Draco might have gotten all your things and sent them here from the school but I would rather take you girls to buy a whole new wardrobe in Dublin today." She smiled, resizing Hermione's trunk after placing it at the foot of her bed.

"Thanks, has Dumbledore noticed that we've gone yet?" Hermione smiled, hopping up out of bed.

"Not when I last spoke to Draco but he might have by now. Here, I thought you might like this little outfit." Narcissa replied, laying the garment bag on the bed and resizing a pair of black and white Mary Jane shoes and silver bangles. Inside the garment bag was a short cream ruffled dress which, when it was on, looked lovely on her. She added her stockings, the shoes and bangles with black mascara to finish the look.

"You look lovely, almost like an angel. We'd better have something to eat." Narcissa smiled. Both Ginny and Luna looked lovely too, although Ginny had a sort of 50's style to her top and skirt combo while Luna looked like she was ready for a holiday on the Algarve in white capris, a blue tank top and flip flops.

The three teens enjoyed shopping with Narcissa, she knew exactly which shops to go into and could tell at a single glance the quality of an item. They ended up with full new wardrobes each and they got a new wardrobe for the guys too, they'd decided to stay at the manor but Narcissa wasn't going to let them get away with not having new clothes. By contrast, the guys spent the day flying with Tom, Lucius, Snape and the LeStranges; by about lunchtime they were bored with plain flying so they began to play a game of four-on-four Quiddich with Tom and Harry as Seekers, Lucius and Rastaban LeStrange as Keepers and Neville, Snape, Rudolphous and Bellatrix LeStrange as Chasers. Harry's team won by the narrowest of margins and that was probably due to the fact that Harry's skills as a Seeker were almost purely instinctual whereas Tom's were based on practice.

"What is it that you find so amazing about flying?" Hermione sighed when everyone was eating dinner and sharing what they'd done that day.

"Flying gives you such a sense of freedom, the air is so clear and uncrowded that it can really calm you when you're feeling tense." Tom explained, a calm and relaxed smile on his face.

"But at times you go 50ft up in the air, if not even higher! How can being that far off the ground be calming?" She gasped, looking shocked at his reply. The others wisely kept silent, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Snape because they knew the reason behind her aversion to flying, while the others were simply curious by her attitude.

"It almost doesn't seem real when you do look down, and most of the time you're looking around you rather than at the ground so a lot of the time you forget just how high you are." Tom countered, looking at her closely.

"How can you 'forget' just how high you are?" She gasped, her face paling at the thought of being so high.

"You have _Acrophobia_." Tom said suddenly.

"She has what?" Harry asked, looking worried.

"_Acrophobia_, a fear of heights." Tom replied, his eyes never leaving Hermione's pale face.

"Can we _**please**_ stop talking about heights!" Hermione said, her voice high and almost panicky. Sensing how upset the young Neko was becoming, Narcissa changed the subject to the new wardrobes that she'd gotten for the teens, a topic which drew input from everyone except Tom and Hermione. Hermione was picking at her food, her appetite having left her during the discussion about heights and flying, with her eyes focused on her plate; Tom's gaze was still trained on Hermione, concern shining in his eyes for her.

It was much later, when she was about to get ready for bed that Tom knocked on her bedroom door.

"Tom? What's the matter?" She asked, her voice betraying her tiredness.

"I wanted to show you something, come with me." He smiled, offering her his arm. After the briefest hesitation she accepted the arm. Much to her surprise, he led her outside to a large open area that she knew had served as a Quidditch pitch that day. Lying in the centre was a broom, more specifically a Firebolt that she recognised as being newer than Harry's. She turned to look at him with slight alarm in her eyes.

"Shh, don't worry Kitten. I wanted to show you that flying can be perfectly safe. I won't go higher than my shoulder height, I promise. Will you trust me?" He said soothingly, gently rubbing small circles on her hand. She looked scared but she nodded, causing him to smile at her. He mounted the broom before settling her in front of him, her body facing sideways in a sort of side-saddle position with his arms around her.

"Right, I'm going to get the broom to hover so our feet are about six inches off the ground, ok?" He said smoothly in her ear.

"Ok." She whispered, instinctively pressing closer to him. Slowly and gently, the broom rose into the air, hovering about half a foot off the ground. It stayed there and eventually, when she felt that it wasn't going to raise any higher, Hermione relaxed and was able to look around. Slowly, they rose into the air, six inches at a time, until they were exactly level with the height of Tom's shoulders when he was standing on the ground.

"Are you alright Kitten?" He asked, tightening his grip around her waist slightly when he felt her tense at the height.

"I-I'm ok." She stuttered quietly, but grateful for the comfort his arms gave her.

"Would you be alright for us to fly around a bit? I'll go slowly." He asked, his voice velvety as it sounded in her ear. She could only nod as she feared that her voice would shake if she verbally responded. By the time Tom landed the broom, Hermione was actually comfortable flying with him at that height and she saw why he found flying calming, although she felt that she wouldn't have been nearly so calm had Tom not been with her.

_**TRHG**_

Hermione was woken from her sleep by the sound of someone knocking into something in her room. It was pitch black so she guessed that she hadn't been asleep long. Hushed voices were coming from near the end of her bed and, the more she heard, the more worried she got.

"He said that we've got to take her back to him at Hogwarts and we'd get more money and power than _**Riddle**_ could ever give us." The first voice said, irritation in his voice.

"But Goyle, how do we know that it's the little Mudblood he wants?" The second voice asked.

"Because he told us that he wanted the little Neko, Crabbe! Look, you can send one of the other girls if you want and get shouted at for sending the wrong one but I'm going to follow our instructions. I'm sick of Greg being looked down on because he's less powerful than the _**Malfoys**_, well no more!" Goyle senior snarled angrily.

"Fine, fine, you know I'm as concerned for Vincent as you are for your son. I just wanted to make sure that we've got the right girl." Crabbe senior sighed. Hermione decided that she didn't want to hang around so she decided to take advantage of a little known fact about Nekos to make her escape. While a lot of people knew that Nekos are part feline, it is less well known that they can shift into a full feline form. It's not an Animagus transformation, rather it's a form of shape-shifting. It only took a little effort on her part for Hermione to shift into the form of a small black cat, that looked barely out of kittenhood but was in actuality a fully grown queen. The only sign that the cat was Hermione Granger was the fact that her eyes had remained the same topaz colour.

After transforming into her cat form, she could see much better in the dark than before. With practiced ease she slipped past the two men walking cautiously towards her bed and padded towards the door which they'd left ajar. Carefully she opened it a bit wider and made her way out of the room. Now the immediate danger was gone, she realised that they would no doubt search for her once they realised that she was not in the room.

'_I need to find somewhere safe._' She huffed in 'cat-tongue' as Harry called it. She started to see what she could smell nearby, she could smell each of her friends in the surrounding rooms but she knew that with them would be the first place Crabbe and Goyle senior would look. Suddenly she picked up Tom's scent, she knew that they would never think to look for her there. To her surprise, his room was only a few doors down from hers, an empty room separating him from her room, she almost couldn't believe her luck that he was so close. Unfortunately her luck ran out when she reached the door which was closed and she could hear Crabbe and Goyle senior's surprised exclaims from her room. Desperately she scratched at the door and mewed frantically, hoping almost against hope that Tom would hear her and open the door. As she heard Crabbe and Goyle's footsteps heading out of her room to investigate the noise she was making, she also heard the sounds of movement coming from behind the closed door. Mere moments before Crabbe and Goyle left her room, the door opened and she ran past Tom's legs and into the room, drawing his attention to her. She hopped up on his bed and looked at him, wondering if he would realise that it was her. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed his attire, he was wearing a pair of loose dove grey silk sleep pants and nothing else with his hair tousled from sleep. He merely looked confused for a few moments before closing the door.

"Hello, and who are you little one?" He asked picking her up and rubbing the back of her head.

'_Tom, it's me, Hermione._' She mewed but he obviously couldn't understand her. Instead, he sat down and continued rubbing just behind her ears.

'_No, Tom, it's Hermione, I need to tell you…oh Merlin that feels good! Wait, Tom…Argh!_' She tried to say but his efforts behind her ears made her thoughts a little scrambled. Suddenly she had a flash of inspiration. When she had been flying with him, she'd curled her tail around his wrist in her panic. As best she could, she coiled her now smaller tail around his wrist and looked up at him. Confusion flashed in his eyes briefly before sudden understanding took its place.

"Hermione?" He asked, raising his right eyebrow. She nodded.

"What are you doing here Kitten? Did something haqppen?" He asked worriedly, again, she nodded.

"Can you transform back?" He asked, placing her on the bed. She nodded and slowly turned back to her normal form.

"What happened Kitten?" He asked sitting next to her.

"I woke up to find Crabbe and Goyle senior in my room. They didn't realise that they'd woken me up because they were talking about someone at Hogwarts wanting me delivered to them. I realised that it probably wasn't to have afternoon tea, so I shifted to my cat form to escape. You were the only person that I thought they wouldn't look for me with." She explained, leaning into his side.

"I'll deal with them Kitten. Are you wanting to stay here for the rest of the night?" He asked, placing an arm around her shoulders.

"You wouldn't mind?" She asked, loving the feeling of his arm around her.

"Kitten, it's fine. I honestly don't mind." He smiled, placing a soft kiss on her temple.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Kitten**_

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_For adding this story to Story Alert, thanks to: arabellagrace, SunsStorm, banana37174, bloodlyangel, -Zabini, Pirates16103, angelstarling, blazemaster5000, the silent ones, kkrrista, BurningAlmond, btvs22, an angel's whisper, Beautiful-Liar13, kitten42, .GRAVE18, clerick24, nikkistaria, megansr2008, obsidian-fox-demon, TawnyC, dance-love-happiness, kewlbanana, Amacra, Sbacon, Shadow Dragon000, princessNyxxx, Simi Nightmares, Gabbeh M,_

_For adding this story to their Favourite Story list, thanks to: HollyAnne87, klr52, Outlaw-Lanaya, rogue23gw, peyj, btvs22, Beautiful-Liar13, kitten42, W4st3d-Y0uth, obsidian-fox-demon, darkwinterrose, Sbacon, princessNyxxx, Simi Nightmares, Gabbeh M, _

_For reviewing, thanks to: Brandi Moore, cosmoGirl666, darkxangelxreaderx, , Gabby0515, ak269, norsetroytomionepotter, princessNyxxx, _

_Also, there's numerous other people who should be added to the lists above but as the email on my phone has gone strange, I've not been able to get them so Thanks to everyone not mentioned that should be!_

_Oh, and Anonymous, you could have put it in a nicer way! You've probably managed to offend anyone who actually reads and likes Twilight fan fiction! And for your information, my writing style is very descriptive but because someone asked me to tame the outfit descriptions down I did. Had you asked nicely I would have done it but as you didn't, I'm not going to! If you want to say something like that, create an account and sign in so I can respond in private! Also, plenty of people like this story and aren't bothered by the description!_

_For norsetroytomionepotter, I'm glad you like the Neko idea, I thought it was kind of unusual. As for the descriptions, I didn't take what you said as too bad, I felt it was simply you telling me what you'd prefer in a story. And I'll try and tone it down a bit more for you __J_

_Sorry it's taken so long, I've had no inspiration for this story as you might guess from how short it is. I've managed to finish this chapter but it might be a while before the next one's up._

_Special thanks go out to everyone who commented on how I dealt with the nasty review on '__**The Darkness Inside**__' (it's in a chapter after the epilogue if you want to read my reply). I'd like to apologise to everyone who likes to review anonymously, to try and force that person to actually use an account, I've disabled the anonymous review function, don't worry, I will put it back up soon!_

_**TRHG**_

_**Chapter 5**_

Tom was furious at Crabbe and Goyle Sr. for trying to take Hermione to Dumbledore (even though Hermione hadn't heard who they were working for, it was obvious to Tom that Dumbledore was behind it). He stated that he didn't want Hermione, her friends or any of his friends present when he dealt with them but Rastaban, Rudolphous, Lucius and Severus insisted.

"Think of it this way, we can help you keep hold of your temper so you can think of a proper way to punish them." Severus reasoned and Tom saw the sense in what his friend said.

"Fine, but you are only to intervene when it seems like I'm taking things too far." He growled angrily.

"Of course, shall we go Tom?" Lucius nodded. While the five men went to the meeting, Narcissa and Bellatrix distracted the teens. They found that, when not acting crazy and attempting to kill them, Bellatrix was actually lovely. Now that they were on the same side, as far as getting rid of Dumbledore was concerned, she had decided that some of the teens needed a mother. She seemed to have taken Harry and Neville under her wing, showering the two boys with affection, especially Harry when she found out what his life with his Muggle relatives was like. Because the teens weren't at Hogwarts anymore, the two women had started tutoring them so they actually could sit their NEWTs.

Hermione was more distracted than normal, she was almost aching to find out what Tom was planning for the people who'd attempted to kidnap her. Not even potions, one of her favourite subjects, could distract her. In the end, Narcissa contacted Draco, Blaise and Pansy to floo over to distract her. The Malfoys, the Parkinson's and Mrs Zabini had all pulled their children from Hogwarts, knowing that they would be able to give them a better education than the one that Dumbledore was enforcing. But even the appearance of the Slytherin Trio was insufficient to distract her although it _**did**_ distract the others due to the information that they brought.

"Ron's saying _**what**_?" Ginny screeched in a passable impression of what would be a cross between her mother and an angry owl.

"He's saying that Hermione is his fiancée, he's getting loads of sympathy for it actually." Pansy replied from where she was busy braiding Luna's hair into a French plait.

"But Hermione can't stand him!" Harry argued, looking confused.

"Well we know that but no one else does. Think about it, you three were so close, would it be so hard for someone outside the group to believe that she would agree to marry him?" Blaise pointed out, staring thoughtfully at one of his former enemies. Harry blushed lightly at the attention of the Italian male whom he'd had a crush on for years.

In the end, they managed to get Hermione to listen when they told her about Ron's claims and she got so angry that the immediately sent off a Howler that included a rather nasty impotence curse.

"I knew you had it in you Granger!" Draco grinned at her.

"But what will the Professors say?" She worried, looking nervous.

"That you had every right to get angry, and to threaten to sue him for slander was a piece of genius!" Narcissa smiled, handing the Neko a cup of tea to calm her down.

_**TRHG**_

Tom sat facing the bound men his face calm and impassive but inwardly he was seething with rage. He wasn't sure what it was about Hermione that could cause him to lose control like this but something about her drew him to her.

"How dare you break into my home and attempt to abduct someone who is a guest here!" He snarled, hitting them both with a strong _Crucio_, causing them to crash to the floor. Crabbe Sr. managed to get himself up off the floor and sneered at Tom.

"If the little whore had been in her bed when we went to get her, we would not be in this position. Instead it would be you and your most faithful at _**our**_ feet, begging us for mercy!" He spat angrily. Tom was never truly sure what happened next but Severus, Lucius, Rudolphus and Rastaban all said that it was one of the most brutal and vicious things they had ever seen.

By the time Tom had come to his senses, Crabbe Sr, was a barely recognisable mass of mangled flesh and bone in a pool of his own blood. Goyle Sr. was cowering nearby when Tom turned his attention towards him.

"Please My Lord, he said that if I didn't, he'd tell you about the plan and that it was my fault. I never wanted to hurt her! I'd heard that Nekos can turn into cats so I hoped that she'd wake up and do so to escape. She must have done just that!" He stuttered nervously, his face fearful. Tom paused and looked at the cowering man thoughtfully.

"Severus, have you any Veritaserum?" He asked finally, looking at his friend.

"Of course I have, my Lord." Severus replied, stepping forward to hand the small vial to Tom. After dosing Goyle Sr. (who gladly took the potion to prove his innocence) with the potion and asking the standard questions to check that it was working, he began his questioning in earnest.

Later, after the potion had worn off, Tom finally decided what to do with Goyle Sr.

"It is obvious to me that you did not play a wiling part in the plot however you _**were**_ involved so you must have some punishment. From now on, you will no longer be allowed on this premises unescorted, and you will be closely watched in your associations from now on as well. This will be your only second chance, any more transgressions and I will not be as merciful as I am being now in the future, is that clear?" He said, gauging Goyle's reaction to his words. The man simply looked relieved and nodded before leaving, muttering a quick but sincere "Thank you My Lord." on his way out. He actually seemed a little ashamed of what he had been forced to attempt, showing Tom that there was some hope for him yet.

Tom _**had**_ wanted to see Hermione almost immediately after dealing with the would-be-kidnappers but his friends persuaded him to wait until he'd showered and changed his blood.

"The sight of you covered in someone's blood might scare her." Severus had stated with a wry shake of his head. He didn't really understand just how strong the draw that Hermione held for Tom, so since the teens had begun to reside at Slytherin Manor, he was almost constantly amazed at his friend's fondness for the Neko.

Tom nodded and went back to his room to shower and change, before calling a couple of house elves. He told the first to dispose of his clothes as they were completely stained with Crabbe's blood, while he instructed the second to get rid of the remains and try to get as much blood off the floor as possible. Contrary to popular belief, Tom _**did**_ care about how his house elves were treated and he _**never**_ overworked them. Once he was presentable once more, he went to see Hermione, just to reaffirm in his mind that she was alright.

He could tell that she was curious about what he'd done to Crabbe and Goyle Sr. but he also knew that it might scare her, the lengths he went to protect her, so he kept quiet.

_**TRHG**_

Dumbledore gnashed his teeth, Crabbe Sr. had failed to kidnap Hermione back and worse still, had gotten killed but Tom. With an angry snarl, Dumbledore threw his teacup at the wall, feeling very satisfied at its smash. He needed her back for his plans, otherwise all would be lost! He couldn't give up, he wouldn't. He was the one who'd discovered that she was a Neko! He should be the one to benefit from her, not Tom! And he would, he'd just have to find another way to get her. It would be harder now as Tom was aware that he wanted Hermione for his plans, but it would be possible; with just the right plan, he would have the Neko back again and could carry on with his plans.

When he'd discovered that she was a Neko, it was not a moment too soon, he'd been worrying about the lack of them in the UK and was worried that he might have to go farther afield for his plans. All he'd had to do was wait until she reached maturity and then everything would be ready. Ronald Weasley had been made aware of his plans in 4th year, and recruited to keep her and Harry on the right track. He'd failed in a way, as they had stopped hanging out with him but before they'd been taken, they had been friends with the right sort of people. Now though, Dumbledore knew that the entire group of friends were associating with _**Slytherins**_ of all people! That would change soon! Once he completed his plans, he would have the entire group sent to Azkaban, no one would question him about it, after all, he was Albus Dumbledore!


End file.
